KRALENDIJK/WILLEMSTAD — The incident of the aircraft, which had crashed in the sea near Small Bonaire, has meanwhile become a criminal investigation. The police announced this during a press conference shortly before noon. The aircraft had transported more than 300 kilos of drugs.
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The aircraft had violated all possible regulations. No contact was sought with the control tower just before the crash. It therefore concerned an illegal flight. Initial tests reveal that it concerns cocaine, but the Narcotics department is not ruling out that there were also other drugs on board the aircraft. Two bodies have been recovered.
The police could not say anything about the identity of the victims yet, or where the aircraft had come from and where it had been heading to. Apart from the drug packages, a black backpack and a jerry can had been found as well. Parts of the aircraft had been recovered, just like the drug packages.
Rangers from Stinapa had recovered the first mutilated body from the sea at two o’clock last night. The victim had still been strapped to his seat. This morning about nine, the rangers had also recovered the second body after it had been spotted by the coastguard. Vessels from Stinapa on Bonaire, the Narcotics department, the coastguard and rescue organization Citro from Curaçao had assisted with the search, just like the surrounding boats. The Cyprian tanker Cape Avila, which had been in the area, had amongst others, arranged for illumination. All vessels were checked thoroughly according to the police as many packages had ended up in the sea. For that matter, the drugs are not being stored at the police station, but at an unknown location in view of safety reasons.
At around nine o’clock last night, the first telephone calls had been received from people who had seen a ball of fire and heard a loud report. They had been near the boulevard. Many more telephone calls were made to the police’s switchboard afterwards. The search on the sea had been carried out from ten PM until five AM and was continued again at seven o’clock that morning. The coastguard had searched amongst others with the cutter Panther, the helicopter and their own patrol aircraft.
The police have called on people to report any tips in this case to the telephone number 717-5830 or 717-7251 (anonymous tip line).
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